Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/127

 CHAPTER XIX.

THE WATER-WAGTAILS, PIPITS AND TITS.

I was a boy the Wagtails had a peculiar

fascination for me, and the feeling has not quite faded away yet. There is something so original and droll about their idea of life! To hold a long tail horizontally behind you and wag it vigorously and incessantly, to spend your days near cool waters, running about on the ground not hopping like a sparrow, but running with alternate steps and catching little somethings in the air, this is the Wagtail's